Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex · error

Missing JSON value after --input

Error message

Missing JSON value after --input

What it means

The --input flag appeared as the last token of the state command's argument list, so there is no JSON value following it. Both the space form and --input= exist; this error covers the space form without a value.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/state.ts:104

  if (isHelpArg(args[1])) {
    stdout(STATE_HELP);
    return;
  }

  let inputValue: string | undefined;
  let inputFileValue: string | undefined;
  let modeValue: string | undefined;
  let json = false;
  for (let index = 1; index < args.length; index += 1) {
    const arg = args[index];
    if (arg === '--json') {
      json = true;
      continue;
    }
    if (arg === '--input') {
      const next = args[index + 1];
      if (!next) {
        throw new Error('Missing JSON value after --input');
      }
      inputValue = next;
      index += 1;
      continue;
    }
    if (arg.startsWith('--input=')) {
      inputValue = arg.slice('--input='.length);
      continue;
    }
    if (arg === '--input-file') {
      const next = args[index + 1];
      if (!next) {
        throw new Error('Missing path value after --input-file');
      }
      inputFileValue = next;
      index += 1;
      continue;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ad79a8a6f)

Solutions

1. Follow --input with the JSON: `state set --input '{"a":1}'`
2. Guard the variable: `: "${JSON:?JSON required}"` before invoking
3. Or use --input-file to avoid inline quoting entirely

Example fix

# before
state set --input  # $JSON was empty
# after
JSON='{"a":1}'
state set --input "$JSON"

if (!json || json.trim().length === 0) {
  throw new Error('refusing to run: --input value is empty');
}
spawn('state', ['set', '--input', json]);

When it happens

Trigger: `state set --input` with nothing after it, often from an empty shell variable expansion ending the command.

Common situations: `state set --input "$JSON"` where JSON is empty/unset and the shell drops the token; truncated command lines in scripts.

Understand the failure class

Background: "no subcommand specified" and "... is required": CLI errors when a required argument is missing — this error's family across 13 libraries.

Related errors

• Missing path value after --input-file
• --keep-policy must be one of: score_improvement, pass_only
• Unknown capabilities subcommand: ${parsed.subcommand}
• Unknown capabilities option: ${arg}
• ${flag} requires a value

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2e5df3571930dbff. Report an issue: GitHub.